Broughtonia sanguinea v alba
 

The orchid is from Jamaica and Cuba it is normally red or pink. It grows in the mangroves near the water. The white form is rare in the wild. My plant is a product of four generations and each time the best is used for the next generation. You would never find one like mine in the mangroves of Jamaica or Cuba. By improving species, the pressure is off the species left in the mangroves. It would be like wanting to own a German shepherd not a wolf. I got this plant from a grower in Connecticut who specialized in Broughtonia species and hybrids since 1980. This is warm growing and quite rewarding in the quality and length of time that it is in flower. It grows quickly during the warmer months. On sunny days, I water it in the morning and it is dry by late afternoon; because the roots are prone to rot and I am scared to overwater…..I give it fertilizer weekly weakly which is beneficial during the growing season. I maintain temperatures of constant 80F in winter to avoid it going into complete rest.
It is used for breeding because of its shape and colors. It is also crossed with others for its petal substance.
My plant is growing on a 2” pot with small sized bark, lava rock, tree fern shards, sponge rock and small clay pellets.
*Jerry posted blooms of this plant a while ago….

Beautiful Bud! My alba has been blooming for months. It just keeps making more buds from the tip of the two spikes. Your spike is very short. Mine are very long and are about four or five times the length of yours. Are your spikes always that short? I have never seen such a short spike on this species. Thanks for sharing! I would post pics of mine but I can't get good enough pics.

Thank You, WynnDee!
You are right, the spike is very short (at 5 inches) compared to my pink variety that has 10 inches of spike. Maybe its because I put it indoors from being out on the fire escape. The change in position must have stunted it=Im lucky it didnt blast...

At least it doesn't take up tons of room since the spike is short. The shorter spike holds the flowers nice too.

Nice one Bud!

Sadly you don't see many Broughtonias around our parts. Such a nice reward on small compact plants. Do you grow many of them?

Thank You, Dave !
I only have the pink and the alba.
I am a windowsill grower and these miniatures are great to have.

Beautiful!

Thank You, Sonya !

I sure would like to have this little charmer. Beautiful white pristine blooms :drool:
Nice growing Bud :D

Thank You, Gloria !
Ebay has two sellers at the moment on the bid list.....H&R orchid nurseries sells them....Diamond Orchids sells them blooming size on a 2" pot for $15....They are reputable farms and maybe they have the certificates and permits to sent to Canada....give it a try

Thank You, Tony !
The trick is grow as many tiny plants ....several medium sized ones and some large orchids....make sure you have large turn of the century windows (livingroombaywindow, bedroom window, bathroom and kitchen window) and then invest on small tables with tiered wooden pot stands....hang hooks on the ceilings a foot away from the glass window and hang four to five plants in each hook....any flowering orchid has to be at the centerpiece of the dinner table; foyer table and the kitchen breakfast table....
I dont know...I get to bring home an orchid or two and still have a place to tuck it in my apartment(one bedroom apartment in the east village that is an old 1920 bauhaus on the corner south & east facing)
*people have assumed that apartments in Manhattan are a hole in a wall.....most tenement houses for the poor built in the 70's are elevator buildings up to 36 floors with large baywindows.....the 1960's buildings have foyers and verandas ....
its just a matter of looking for great spaces for a bargain

Very nice, Bud. Your alba has better form than any sanguinea I have seen. You should take it to an AOS judging for sure!

Thank You, Gage!
I have never been to a show. The street at the back of my building is the farthest place my blooming orchids have ever been to.
Maybe someday....when I have the confidence.

Get real, Bud! You've got some awesome plants that people need to see (in real life, not on computer screens)! By the way, AOS judgings aren't all at shows. I don't know where they are held for your part of the US, but I'm sure there is a judging center with seasonal judgings near you. Wait, you've never been to a show at all???? And you aren't a member of any orchid society???

Very nice! How large is it? Is it fragrant?

Confidence? You should be very proud of what you are doing with those orchids! :)
I understand about the windows. When we were looking for a place, south-facing windows were a priority. Now I just wish we'd looked for a place in a tropical environment. :)

Thank You, Leafmite!
The flower is an inch and a half in diameter the longest leaf I have is three inches; it is in a 2" pot....

'confidence' means that I can go out in public and display my orchid and not deck the judge on the chin or anyone who hurts my orchids feelings....

I also have to be a member of an orchid clique and go attend a show once and for all....

Having a bargain apt in NYC it is worth more than any AOS award. No bargains anymore. rents never go down. only bargains were bad neighborhoods that went up.

tell me about it, Stefano....my friends are moving to Jersey or Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island....they cant even afford apartments in the Bronx(very gentrified now but large buildings)....I was lucky to have a roomate who graduated and moved to Texas and left me this rent controlled rent stabilized one bedroom in a Bauhaus building in the Village.....heh

So delicately pretty.

Thank You for the vist and your kind comment, Rosie !

Just ran across these bud. Congratulations. Very pretty. I love white. Diaphanous whites to be sure. Very lovely. Wish I were closer. I'd shoot this with my 8x10 in black and white. Give you a nice print.

Thank You James! you gave me an idea...its still in bloom=I will ake some black and whites ; lets see how it goes

Use film. Use decent lighting. Use a medium format camera if you can rent or have a friend who has one. If not a 105mm lens on a 35mm will work wonders. I'm drooling because of the subject matter. I am a photographer. I shoot large format cameras and use film. I have my own darkroom and flowers are my favorite subject matter. Wish I still had a website. You can go to usefilm.com and find my portfolio under james mickelson. It's just a small one but that's what I do. I don't print on a pc and printer. Film and silver paper are my tools.

Sorry, James....I am not a photographer. I dont know how to use film. I can take black and white photos with my digital cam and I use an SD card that I load to photoshop to crop it and size it....your methods of photography is too ambitious for me....I am just a dabbler and started photographing my orchids from an iPhone....a digital cam is one little step to archiving my plants....a black and white film processed in a photolab is way out of my league

Bud, look up Ron Van Dongen. You'll love his images of flowers.

to do BW in digital better shoot raw and then turn it in BW in post rather than relying to a camera's pre cooked algorhytm.

Huh!!?? Just kidding. I don't shoot digital except to show my orchids here. Digital is way way beyond my skills. I used to try and scan my film to digital and then print from files. I gave up. All you younger folks are so much better at this than old fogeys like me. For color I think digital platform was made for it. Nothing beats a good digital color print. But I digress.

I started with BW - loved developing and printing., but I feel digital really turned my life into color... I used to print color negs too.

I used to try and print cibachromes. I gave up. Too expensive. I think you are right. Digital has really opened up so many possibilities for so many artists. It allows you to really be creative especially in color. But I just love the tactile qualities of printing in my darkroom.

2014 rebloom
 

This time this orchid plant gave me more blooms that are bigger and crisper flowers.


https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3922/...ebb033cd_n.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2920/...fc5cdc43_n.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2906/...8f6e4d62_n.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3850/...9535286a_n.jpg

Fabulous!

Thank You Sonya !!!!

Truely outstanding. Thanks for the update after 2 years.

I must have completely forgotten this plant last year, I didn't even notice it bloom....but this year as I was spraying Physan20 on the shelves = I noticed its long spike so I was able to put it forward on display.

Really pretty again!

It's gorgeous, Bud. I looked up some more pictures of this plant online and I have to say yours has the coloring that I like the most, in the alba form.

Very nice Bud. As always. You grow beauties.